Record Number: 18518

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Any one can imagine the fearful monotony of those long dreary marches seated on the back of a slow and silently moving camel. While it was light I would read and even write; but soon the sun would set before us, the stars would appear one by one, and through the long dark hours we would go silently on [...].'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 8 May 1887 and 13 May 1887

Country:

China/Mongolia

Time

evening
daytime: until sunset

Place:

other location: crossing the Gobi Desert on back of camel

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Francis Younghusband

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

31 May 1863

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

soldier and explorer

Religion:

Evangelical Christian at the time later promoted his own brand of spirituality

Country of Origin:

India, English parents

Country of Experience:

China/Mongolia

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

unknown

Title:

unknown

Genre:

Unknown, see additional comments

Form of Text:

Print: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

18518

Source:

Print

Author:

Francis E. Younghusband

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Pamirs and Chitrai, 1884-1894

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1897

Vol:

n/a

Page:

86

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Francis E. Younghusband, The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Pamirs and Chitrai, 1884-1894, (London, 1897), p. 86, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18518, accessed: 13 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

reading material unspecified but Younghusband's biographer indicates that he took a hymn book inscribed by his sister (French, 2004, p.38). This part of the source text makes frequent references to the travel writings of Nikolai Prjevalsky [sic] or Przewalski (1839-1888) the Russian geographer, explorer and naturalist who first crossed the Gobi Desert in the 1870s publishing accounts of his crossings in works in 1875 and 1879. It is possible that Younghusband had one of these texts with him.